The Benefits of a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diet

The whole foods, plant-based diet is gaining more and more popularity because of its extreme health benefits, and its ability to cure many illnesses and help people obtain a healthy body weight. It involves removing all meat, dairy, eggs and anything made from animal products. Because animal products contain all sorts of hormones, and the food the animals on farms may eat contain pesticides and herbicides, unless we buy organic, we are also ingesting many chemicals which contribute to a wide variety of illnesses.

The whole foods, plant-based diet is full of vegetables, healthy grains, fruits, beans, and is also very low fat. Not only does this diet provide the body with all the healthy nutrient-dense calories it requires to function daily, it also lowers cholesterol, blood pressure, cures diabetes, insulin resistance, acne and a variety of other illnesses. The whole family can partake in this healthy lifestyle. Its great for kids, especially since we know they are getting all the vitamins and nutrients required to help them grow into healthy and strong individuals. This healthy way of eating also makes for a much stronger immune system.

If following this lifestyle, you may want to supplement with Vitamin B-12 since it is mostly obtained from animal products, and Vitamin D (since it is also mostly obtained from dairy products) and absorption is reduced without the calcium you get in dairy. It is also important to take a multi-vitamin.

There are endless options for meals following this lifestyle. Giving up meat and dairy is not an easy feat as we were raised to eat the typical “meat and potato” diet. However, the health benefits alone are worth giving this lifestyle a try.

Here’s a great recipe to try:

Chickpea Salad Pita

• 1 cup of Mashed cooked chickpeas (until they are a flaky consistency)
• Peppers (red, yellow, green, orange)
• onion
• Pickles
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Carrots
• 1 tbsp Vegenaise
• 1 tbsp of avocado
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• Whole Grain Pita

Put as much or as little vegetables in you want. Great served with a pita or on top of a fresh green salad.